Rationale: The purpose of this lesson is to teach children to
read expressively, while at the same time helping them to read more fluently.
Reading expressively is one of the four factors, other than being able
to read smoothly, silently, and avidly, which need to be mastered when
concerning reading skills. When knowing how to read expressively,
text is more enjoyable to children.

Procedures:
1. The lesson will begin with a review of the importance of noticing
what kind of punctuation is at the end of a sentence when reading.
There are three different punctuation marks that we are going to learn
about and they are: a period, an exclamation point, and a question
mark.
2. The teacher will write three sentences on the chalkboard and each
one will contain one of the punctuation marks. Once they are written
on the board, the teacher will read the sentences out loud to the class
modeling the appropriate expression for the sentence. "Class listen
to me…Today is going to be such a fun day!, Did you go to the game
last night,? and Ms. Smith told me not to run in the halls anymore."
"Good job listen. Now it's the class's turn to read the sentence
with expression, just as I did. Let's say it together…sentence one………"
3. Next, the teacher will pair up students. Then the partners
are to write three of their own sentences (using each punctuation mark).
4. Once everyone is finished, each pair of students will present their
sentences to the class, by reading each sentence with the appropriate vocal
expressions. After each sentence is read, a student will be called
on to answer which punctuation was used in the sentence.
5. Then the teacher will combine three pairs of students (making three
groups of around six).
6. Once in these larger groups, they are going to read Oh, the Places
You'll Go!, by, Dr. Seuss. Each individual will read three pages
out loud to the group, along with demonstrating the appropriate vocal expression
in the reading. After one student finishes his/her turn reading,
the book will be passed to the next student sitting to the right of him/her.
7. The teacher will be walking around the room, so she can catch any
mistakes from the students. Also, the teacher will encourage the
students to help each other within their small group.
8. In closing and before the assessment, the teacher will review one
more time the three different punctuation marks. Next the teacher
will reread her sample sentences that she wrote on the board and again
using the correct expression(s).
9. For assessment the teacher will have the students come up individually
during their free reading time to read an age appropriate decodable book
with expression. The teacher will mark the number of times that each
punctuation mark was read with expression correctly or incorrectly.
10. For a follow-up activity the teacher can ask that the students
go home tonight and look for examples of sentences with punctuation marks
in magazines, newspapers, etc. Then the next day they are to turn
in at least two sentences from a magazine, etc. Once all the sentences
are turned in, the class will make a big chart as a class and glue each
sentence in the appropriate column to see which punctuation mark has the
most.